An eagle eye over at the ‘Man of Steel’ Facebook page noticed an addition to the cast list on IMDb. Looks like they’ve cast young Robert Gerdisch in the role of Whitney Fordham.

If the name sounds familiar that’s because in the series ‘Smallville’ they had a character named Whitney Fordman who was a star athlete and Lana’s boyfriend. Now whether or not this will be the same character as in the movie is still unknown. Many on the site are speculating whether the role is a new character or if it was just a typo on IMDb’s part and is the same Whitney as in ‘Smallville.’ Director Zack Snyder happens to be a fan of ‘Smallville’ and this could be a nod on his part towards the show. He could have just changed the last name of the character due to copyright issues as Fordman was an addition thought up for the series and was never featured in the comics. But then again, that is speculation.

In addition to the listing of Gerdisch as Whitney, there is also a picture of him (which you can see below) with Snyder with the caption “Zack Snyder and Robert Gerdisch on set Man of Steel, Vancouver.” By his boyish looks, he can easily play opposite Jadin Gould who was just cast as young Lana Lang.

We’ve reached out to Gerdisch’s agent to see if this casting rumor is true and what the last name of the character actually is so when we get a confirmation, we’ll let you know!